December 28, 2009 4:58 pm

Greetings, I had to cover the Monday Jim Mora press conference as Eric’s flight was delayed out of Wisconsin, causing him to miss his connecting flight to Minnesota. Apparently, he’s trying to rent a car with Steve Martin to get home.

Sorry of the delay on the post, but I wanted to get back to Tacoma after the press conference.

Anyway, Mora seemed not as quite as upbeat as usual, but then again, it’s not surprising. A good portion of the questions centered on the team and players effort, or lack thereof.

“It sticks out to a coach,” Mora said. “Just let me be very clear there is no lack of effort on this football team.”

That was in response to my question where I asked if lack of effort is easily visible to coaches or fans.

Mora was asked if the guys in the locker room were still buying into what they were coaching.

“Oh sure,” Mora said. “Effort is not an issue. People are always going to be bring up the question of effort when you get beat bad. That is not an issue, not at all.”

Later in the press conference, Mora was asked if he understood why people would be questioning the effort level of the players.

“I absolutely understand it,” Mora said. “I think it’s very reasonable for people to question that. When you lose games by some of the scores we’ve lost then certainly people question that. all I can say, is having first-hand knowledge of it, having been around the league for my entire life, being in the locker room and on the practice on the field every day and on the sidelines with them – effort is not an issue. It’s just simply not an issue. And if it was – I’ve been honest with you guys all year – I’d tell you if it was. And it’s not. It’s just not. There are other issues, but effort is not one of them.

But I do absolutely understand the question. Shoot if I was sitting out there, I’d be asking it too.”

Let’s move on to Matt Hasselbeck …

Mora went over the the four interceptions ….

“It looked like he tried to pumped fake and tried to bring the ball back on a string. Most of the times when you do that, it falls to the turf, but they just happened to have a guy there that made the play.

Second interception, the ball was tipped and the receiver slipped.

The third and fourth interceptions, they were playing two-man, which is two deep man underneath coverage and Matt tried to bang the ball in there to make a play. Just like with all of our players we have to help him and give them good play calls versus coverages we anticipate and hope they make good decisions. He knew was about to get hit and he had to get rid of the ball.”

Is Hasselbeck trying to do too much?

“I think he might have used the term “forcing it” at times or trying to make something happen. The guys a competitor. He’s a great competitor. It kills him when his football team is not winning. He’s the quarterback so he takes a lot of credit when things when are going well and a lot of the responsibility when things are not going well. Knowing Matt and how serious he is about his craft, he’s just going to do everything he can to win, and sometimes it means forcing the ball in there. When you’re a quarterback in this league you have the ball in your hands on every play, when you make a mistake it’s magnified.”

Injuries

WR Nate Burleson (ankle) will be out this week

LB Aaron Curry (hip) is doubtful

RB Julius Jones has re-injured his ribs and injure his foot and is questionable.

CB Josh Wilson (hip) is also questionable

WR Mike Hass dislocated the shoulder on the opening kickoff. He came back and played after getting it put into a brace, but Mora said Hass will likely need surgery in the offseason.

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About

Gregg Bell joined The News Tribune in July 2014. Bell had been the director of writing for the University of Washington's athletic department for four years. He was the senior national sports writer in Seattle for The Associated Press from 2005-10, covering the Seahawks in their first Super Bowl season and beyond. He's also been The Sacramento Bee's beat writer on the Oakland Athletics and Raiders. The native of Steubenville, Ohio, is a 1993 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and a 2000 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.

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I’m glad Wilson isn’t hurt more seriously. That hit he took in mid air was ugly. It looked initially to me like he tore up his knee.

As for the effort question. Whatever. I guess calling out Mare and Spencer are safe but he’s reluctant to call out the majority of the team for mailing it in. I guess that would reflect badly on him. Can’t have the collateral damage coming home, after all. I’m sorry it hasn’t worked out for Mora because his failings are that of the entire organization, but he’s as good as gone.

Eat shit Jim Mora. I’m a 23 year old who could coach better than you, and I’d start by firing my assistance and replacing them with a computer that just randomizes offensive plays and defensive schemes and picks them for no reason.

and Duke, I can almost guarantee you Todd Leiweke will base the hiring of the GM solely on if he’s going to bring back Mora.

I’d like to have Seahawks Insider have me post an article like you did. If you want me to, you email me a topic and expect some brutal honesty.

With a combined total of 106 to 24 score for the last 3 games… it would seem more realistic to say, “Yeah, there has been some lack of effort by some players. But they won’t be here next year!” Wouldn’t THAT be good to hear!

I’m not yet ready to say Mora needs to go. Knapp, yeah! Bradley… maybe. I do believe Mora deserves a chance to change the team culture of the last 4.9 years. I think the “DIRTBAGS WANTED” poster should be front and center at the entrance to VMAC.

This mess the Hawks are in now reminds me more of the pre and post Chuck Knox teams when the Seahawks didn’t know how to win, yet us fans still accepted them. It was still exciting to see individual players, like Zorn, Largeant, Green, Dornik, Herra, Moyer, Easley, etc. make fantastic plays… yet still lose the game.

To me, it’s “hang on” time and see what comes next. It sure as hell will beat what we’ve seen in the last 2 years!

GO HAWKS!

NOW… after the Mike Holmgren era… Hawk fan EXPECT to win and that’s what’s causing all the

” I do believe Mora deserves a chance to change the team culture of the last 4.9 years. ” Change the culture of the last 5 seasons (nearly)? That includes 3 division titles and a Super Bowl appearance. Seems to me it’s been changed alright. And the man responsible for a large part of that is now gone, Ruskell. If anything, I’d like to restore the culture.

If Burleson and Curry are out this week, there is no excuse not to put them on IR and sign two players from someone else’s practice squads this week and have their rights heading into next season. I mentioned this in much more detail yesterday. If you missed it, it’s in the post-game thread (and long).

It sure won’t be “Coach” Mora, he’s too busy playing for today by doing his best to avoid a franchise worst defeat. Why play for the future when you can lose 48-10 instead of 48-3!

Before the Tampa game, I read a post in the Seattle PI Blog (not a good blog) that said something like “Seahawks fans, it could be worse – you could have Josh Freeman and be the Bucs.”

I think at this point, we would gladly trade teams. They look to have bottomed out, might have a QB of the future (I don’t know much about Freeman) and we are just sitting here wondering how bad it will get and where the bottom is.

pabuwal – that’s my concern. The best thing for our franchise is to IR the players who are too injured to play next week and pick-up practice squad guys from someone else so they are our property heading into next training camp. Webster could do this but he may be hesitant since he probably won’t be back. But I can guarantee that it would look good on his resume to do something like that for the franchise he’s working for, even though he knows he probably wouldn’t be around to see the fruits of his labor.

“(Tod Leiweke’s) title is CEO of Vulcan Sports and Entertainment, the Seahawks, First & Goal Inc and, worst of all, the Sounders. Fine, go be a business manager, and let’s put a football guy in as team president and abolish the “CEO of the Seahawks” title, and Tod can continue to be a huckster and sell tickets.”

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Nighthawk2,

I responded to this quote in another thread, but it’s worth repeating in case you missed it.

You have hit the nail on the head. You are right on.

And I have some good news for you, buddy! That is EXACTLY the way our front office is set up. Tod Leiweke acts like every other team’s CEO in the NFL. He acts just like Bob Kraft of the Patriots! Or Jim Irsay in Indy!

You really think these guys are making calls on the football field? Or watching game tape of D-III prospects in their free time? Ha!

We are currently in the process of hiring a new President, because, since you seem to have forgotten – ours just got canned! By Leiweke!

Ruskell was the President and GM. He handled ALL things football. He is the one who failed us. He has been held accountable by ownership.

And the fact that you think Leiweke is actively running the football side of things here is pretty laughable when you acknowledge he wears the same hat for three different sports franchises in three different sports.. Yes, I’m sure he thinks he is a football genius, a soccer genius, and a basketball genius.. Yeah, good call, he is a jack of all trades.. Right.. Or maybe he just figures out how to make them profitable.. Imagine that..

I know I am giving you a hard time here, but really, it’s because you are being so stubborn about this.. You are wrong, and you won’t admit it.. Most of the time, you are dead on, just very cynical, but in this case you are perpetuating a misconception among too many ignorant fans..

Duke – I just read the live chat today and you asked Eric a question that I think verfies (not that we needed it) that Mora shouldn’t be back.

You asked if there were rumblings about the coaching… and Eric basically said “yes” but not on record and some of these “rumblings” were from players who are considered part of our future. If these type of guys are questioning the current leadership, how can we justify bringing Mora back? We can’t. I think this alone has to mean he’s as good as gone.

C’mon group! If you are, or have been, an athlete…. If you are, or have been, a coach in any sport…. you most clearly fully understand where the Hawks are at this point…. ‘Athletes’ hate this scenario… ‘Good coaches’ have to be at a total loss with Mora if they are following this team…… There’s a clear misconnection… I do not agree with anyone about the players we have, not being able to be competitive… It’s BS! .. Yes, the loss of Walt is clearly critical, but… a different head coach is ‘absolutely’ critical for next year… Stevos, or Pab or Bobby or Duke or Snydro or Nighthawk or Hawkfan or so-many-more… YOU would cover the offensive line needs in the upcoming draft!… who could miss? The GM isn’t our first need! With 2 first round picks, it’s got to be hard not being better in 2010! Unless we still have Mora… EVEN with added better players through FA or draft, all the returnees have gone through this season… most, the THIRD with Mora…..
C’mon!

LT: Draft one of the future, Anthony Davis of Rutgers might be there with the second pick – all the tools, but young and raw = growing pains
LG: Sims
C: Unger
RG: Spencer
RT: Locklear

But the team needs to get rid of the ZBS first and foremost. Only Unger fits in there. In a power system he would be the weakest of the 5, but he will have both Guards who can help him. I actually think with the right system and the right LT, this would be a pretty good line.

pabuwal – I think the Vikings are good, but I think they have a (negative) ace in the hole. That “ace” is Brad Childress. I really do think Mora is a better coach than Childress. I think Childress is that bad, stupid, dumb, etc. because we all know how bad we feel about Mora right now (some want him hanged, he’s that bad too). The difference with Childress is that he has so much Pro Bowl talent that it is utterly ridiculous and the team is winning in spite of him and his stupidity. And the only ones dumber are the Vikings organization for giving him a big time extention a few months ago. That being said, I think the Vikings are good, in spite of their coach, but I don’t think idiotic coaching in the play-offs can compete with good coaching when you’re going up against teams who can meet the talent level too. I know they just got hammered (it was damn funny) by Carolina, but this Carolina team seems to be different now… legit… as they marched into New Jersey yesterday and hammered the Giants… that’s a pretty impressive 2-week stretch for any team in the NFL. Either way, I hope the Vikings lose out. I hate them. I would find it funny if the Packers could beat the Vikings in the play-offs. Oh how funny that would be! The only play-off team I hate worse than the Vikings is the Cowboys (or if the Steelers make it).

Seem to me like nobody in media have any balls to flat out ask the hard stuff. They should stop meeting with Mora and start tracking down Todd Lieweki and get more scoop on GM stuff and if plans on bring back Mora. Nobody in WA CARES WHAT MORA JR SAYS ANYMORE AS IT SEEM LIKE HIS OWN TEAM DOESN’T.

Jim Mora Jr, His coaching staff, PLayers need to be house clean and Webster need to do right thing and put Curry, Nate on IR and sign someone of PS.

Pab – I’m good with that line except that I’ve lost my faith in Locklear – maybe he’ll return to form at RT, but he has looked slow and low-effort to me ever since he came back this year. But I no longer want to spend both first rounders on O-lineman – I want one of those picks to be our Chris Johnson, or Percy Harvin, or any other offensive playmaker.

I’d feel a lot better about that offensive line if you had Bryan Bulaga at LT and Mike Johnson at LG.

It pains me to say this… but Spencer hasn’t looked that bad at RG… if he were resigned and practiced there for an entire off-season and could develop some chemistry between Unger and Locklear… I’d be okay with that…

And if we do draft a QB… I HATE Jimmy the Moron (ND QB, not our coach… LOL). I want Sam Bradford if we have to take one. I know he doesn’t have the arm strength that some seem to value more than anything, but accuracy is so important and Bradford has it. You should have seen that b@st@rd against Nebraska last year (and, no, that’s not the only Oklahoma game I saw). He was a stud. Of course, he was surrounded by studs too. And he wouldn’t be if he were a Seahawk. He’d actually perform like our QB. Just younger. Note: partial sarcasm.

Another random point — Casey Knips — I think he’s a poor man’s Michael Roos. If we want to roll the dice on LT a bit (perhaps with our 4th round pick)… if we want a potential year of growing pains at LT… this kid has tools… I don’t ever see him being a dominant run blocker but I do see him netting a fair share of stalemates to make him an average run blocker, but in pass protection he has some freakish athletic ability for someone that big… In a perfect world, we don’t draft him to start at LT (OBVIOUSLY) but we do draft him to eventually be a quality starter (at LT or RT). You can never have too many good OL, right?

Locklear isn’t the ideal LT in terms of arm length, but remember who his predecessor was – Jones made it seem so easy and effortless. We all thought the LT was an impenetrable wall when in reality they do let guys through and the QB needs to still be able to make a play.

We’ve been spoiled folks and need to lower our expectations on how dominant an OL can be. The Seahawks drafted 3 future HoF OL from 1993-2001, one every 4 years. We won’t see that again.

pdway – I think Lock would be fine at RT… but I agree that with one of those 3 early picks… one needs to be a playmaker… Golden Tate reminds me of a bigger, stronger DeSean Jackson (and I think their speed is the same). Now, I think Jackson is a stud and I don’t expect Tate to have a better 1st two years than Jackson… I simply think Tate has the skills to become an impact offensive playmaker that we need.

BobbyK – arm strength is one of the least important criteria when evaluating a QB. Often those big armed QBs are the biggest busts. But their is a minimal level of arm strength that makes an NFL QB. Hasselbeck was just over this as a youngster and due to age and the cumulative effect of injuries is well below this now. It’s almost like he was overused in 2007 like Alexander was in 2005 and now we have suffered through 2 years of “the end”, also like Alexander.

pabuwal – I know that arm strength is one of the least important criteria when evaluating a QB. That’s why I am being sincere when I say that the QB I want in this upcoming class, if we draft a QB, is Sam Bradford (even though he doesn’t have the arm strength of most of the others).

Re Lock – it’s not arm length, it’s just how slow he’s looked to me on pass protect, and also how little effort he seems to be putting out when his QB is getting killed.
If we had the ability to do so, I’d replace him – but I know we can’t fix every hole in one off-season.

Eric mentioned today that he thinks there is something wrong with Matt’s shoulder from earlier in the season because he doesn’t have the same “zip” from earlier. He didn’t just lose it from one week to the next. He lost it due to injury. He’ll be better with an off-season to rehab. I’m not saying to ignore QB and “hope” things will get better with a 35 year old… That’s simply ignorant thinking. I’m just saying I don’t think he’s washed up to the point that you do. And when Favre actually retires and Childress doesn’t want to give his WCO to Jackson and he gives our new GM a 4th rounder for Matt… don’t be surprised when Matt has something like a 28-10 TD/INT ratio in Minnesota next season. He’ll look awefully good throwing to Harvin, Rice, Berrian and handing off to Adrian Peterson. Hutch will make sure he doesn’t get killed too. And then all the Seahawk fans will have to watch their former warrior do well in another uniform and wonder why he couldn’t do that here. And then we’ll say it’s because of the difference in talent. And, after it’s too late, others might believe it. Of course, then I’ll have to root against Matt if he’s ever a Viking. I hate that organization too damn bad. I can’t wait for them to get the hell out of the state and move to Los Angeles.

I will say that Spencer as well as Sims have been ok at the guard spots. Unger seems to be doing well at C and will only improve. Both tackles are bad. Willis and Lock are sloths, and IMO would do much better in the tight quarters of the Guard position than in space that the Tackles have to contend with. If we dont retain both Sims and Spencer( I do think we’ll keep Sims), I think we should look at Lock and Willis to battle it out in training camp for the RG spot. And look toward drafting the best Tackle available w/the first 1st rounder and get another in FA. Then we still have another 1st rounder and 3RD rounder and another FA aquisition to go toward filling the other holes of Safety, RB and DL.

BobbyK – Hasselbeck looked poor in the first half of the Rams game – the arm strength wasn’t there. He telegraphed his passes to the Rams Safety and they took a while to get there. It was fortunate that the Seahawks were playing the Rams.

I realized while watching the Packers game yesterday, that the team the Seahawks brought in yesterday was essentially the same team as the 07 playoff game with the below notable exceptions:

“Eat shit Jim Mora. I’m a 23 year old who could coach better than you, and I’d start by firing my assistance and replacing them with a computer that just randomizes offensive plays and defensive schemes and picks them for no reason.

and Duke, I can almost guarantee you Todd Leiweke will base the hiring of the GM solely on if he’s going to bring back Mora.

I’d like to have Seahawks Insider have me post an article like you did. If you want me to, you email me a topic and expect some brutal honesty.”

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I laughed out loud.

I would love to read an article by RADEoN, but I doubt the Tribune has the resources necessary to make it resemble the english language..

You said it, moo. One coaching staff had that (almost) same team playing in a play-off game and one coach had that team finishing out a miserable season. Kind of like what snydro said in the post above. We need a coach. Personally, I’d take Shanahan… those two rings on his finger mean something to me… one of those rings was from outcoaching Holmgren too. Not too shabby. You can say he had Elway, but at the same time you could also say Holmgren had Favre too.

Pab…. Very right about arm strength….. Chris Chandler, from Everett had a rifle!!! ……. Prob was, it was a rifle….. I don’t know who the kid was from Everett, way back when, but when free, he caught Chris as well as anyone I’ve ever seen, including pro’s… Just a kid… Coaches dble teamed him…. Championship Game (before Cascade split with Mill Creek), Everett vs Cascade, Cascade won only because Chandler’s receiver’s dropped the ball, dropped the ball, dropped the ball….dropped the ball…. (prob made my point)… (I was a Cascade fan, had a Soph son [lettered, as you might know was rare back then...] playing for them….) Just like the “backup” hawk receivors from last year… (dropped the ball.. dropped the ball….) now long gone… Dennis Erickson (week after the game) kidded about the guy… Talked about glue on his fingers…. I still don’t know who he was….

I agree this team lacks talent but that would also speak to what a mirage that 2007 team was. Will any team ever face that many backup QBs again? Most of those guys didn’t even start for the same team the following year!

The one thing that sticks out to me about him, from the times I used to go over to Cheney for training camp, is that he always seemed like he’d rather be anywhere but practice.. He was the guy who barely jumped or moved his arms during jumping-jacks.. He barely moved on push-ups.. He just seemed to be in another world.. But he did show up on a few Sundays..

Hope ya don’t mind… this was cut off with old & new… those that have lived north of Seattle (Everett?) or followed UW football, I’m guessing would appreciate…

Pab…. Very right about arm strength….. Chris Chandler, from Everett had a rifle!!! ……. Prob was, it was a rifle….. I don’t know who the kid was from Everett, way back when, but when free, he caught Chris as well as anyone I’ve ever seen, including pro’s… Just a kid… Coaches dble teamed him…. Championship Game (before Cascade split with Mill Creek), Everett vs Cascade, Cascade won only because Chandler’s receiver’s dropped the ball, dropped the ball, dropped the ball….dropped the ball…. (prob made my point)… (I was a Cascade fan, had a Soph son [lettered, as you might know was rare back then...] playing for them….) Just like the “backup” hawk receivors from last year… (dropped the ball.. dropped the ball….) now long gone… Dennis Erickson (week after the game) kidded about the guy… Talked about glue on his fingers…. I still don’t know who he was….

Addition…. Did you know Chris played awesome golf??? Jeeeesch! I ain’t shabby, but he (was) a scratch golfer… (and a great guy)…. yup, kicked my butt…. hee hee

I like this new strategy you’re promoting: signing players from other teams’ practice squads. I really think we should consider doing that all year long. There’s more than 200 of the best raw talent sitting on practice squads around the league, and I think we should have at least one roster spot reserved for bringing these guys in to try out for positions where we need depth. That’s one way we could strengthen our team throughout the year.

We are going to get straight up blasted on Sunday, and Chris is probably going to run for 200+ yards. The “awesome” run defense has been pretty decent this year, but they haven’t faced a RB like Johnson.

In past years, when we were good, I know Ruskell actually took some of our guys off the practice squad and put them on our active roster simply so others couldn’t sign them from us (and these are guys who wouldn’t be active on Suday, but at least we’d be guaranteed to have their rights into the following season). I think he did this with Payne a few years ago. Again, before people say I am saying that there’s all kinds of Pro Bowlers available on these practice squads… I’m not saying that (although some have turned out to be). But these are guys who have obvious upside. They are young. They make the league minimum. These are guys we’d like to have.

Snydro… “Showed up on Sunday’s”… (Mili)… Most exceptional athletes know how to ‘step up’ on days of competition… Care to guess the percentage?
I don’t know…. Don’t have a clue….. What I know is, it’s coachable….

pabuwal – can’t argue with you there. Although he did cut Forsett:) And kept Coutu instead of cutting Forsett. That should tell you all we needed to know. I’d say 1994 is here again but they had more talent. I only wish we were like 1994 again. How sad is that?

Duke — how about going back to Ray Roberts if you want another laugh??? I know we’ve gone to that well before, but his draft photo on ESPN looked just like the grown up version of Buckwheat (or however you spell the Little Rascal). Sad. Or funny. Depending on how you look at it.

reading this blog headline ” make no mistake, this team gave effort”, is an insult to all fans. His lack of accountability further confirms his lack of what it’s going to take to fix this. If he can’t say the coaching staff can do better, how does Mora expect this players to do it ???

Getting sick of watching other sub 500 teams give it their all – Bucs, Bears, Rams, Detroit, KC, Oakland ALL are competing.

Pathetic.

Also tired of watching Hugh Millen on post game giving it to everyone except his buddy….get off the fucking show if you can’t do you’re job.

BobbyAyala – They climbed Rainier as a fund raiser for the United Way along with Roger Goodell. What does that have to do with anything? And what is “everything that has happened Ruskell’s departure…”? The only thing I can think of is Leiweke’s comment about Mora during that presser. He said what he had to and more importantly, what he should have said. What a good leader should say. After you can the GM, you try to present an image of stability when there is clearly none. Please enlighten me as to what you believe his loyalty to Mora is.

It is a question being asked around town even though every indication has been that the franchise remains committed to Mora. Seahawks CEO Tod Leiweke said earlier this month he “fully expects” Mora to be retained. And when the team talked to Mike Holmgren two weeks ago about returning to the Seahawks as president, it remained committed to keeping Mora for 2010.”

The Mt. Rainier treck goes back to the Seahawks model of hiring friends, which you whole-heartedly reject despite all the facts that have revolved around Renton the past few years.

It says that Holmgren wanted to keep Mora, because he doesn’t believe in firing a coach after one season. It says a whole bunch of other stuff too, that you conveniently left out.

Let’s not forget that at the time Leiweke made that statement, we hadn’t seen this total collapse and Mora hadn’t been completely tuned out yet.. But regardless, he isn’t going to bad mouth our coach in the middle of the season.

The decision on Ruskell’s replacement ultimately falls with owner Paul Allen. But Lieweke, for the first time in a versatile sports career heretofore associated with hockey, soccer and basketball, figures to have substantial input on a football matter. – John McGrath

BobbyAyala – “The Mt. Rainier treck goes back to the Seahawks model of hiring friends, which you whole-heartedly reject… ” When have I ever said that? Never. In fact, I criticized Ruskell for that very thing, several times. Leiweke is not Ruskell. If Leiweke is as tied to the “Good ‘ole boy network” as you believe, he would not have fired Whitsitt and his own hire, Ruskell. In addition, as Snydro points out, Holmgren wanted to keep Mora. And this; “Tod’s tears at Ruskell’s outgoing presser and his completely moronic statement about “the joining us.” is not evidence of anything other than, it was an emotional time. Hardly proof that Leiweke was in actuality, the one calling the shots through Tim Ruskell, in an elaborate puppet regime.

nbk35zw – While I’ll concede that a “vote of confidence” is nearly always the death nail for whomever is receiving it, it was in my opinion, appropriate. It was attempt to stave off any speculation and questions about the teams head coach in an attempt to show stability and cohesiveness. Leiweke is not Mora, he is not prepared to call people out by name, let alone the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks. He put the best face on a bad situation. I don’t believe it limits them in any way. And I don’t follow how it will drive up the cost of their next GM.

Derek Walker has been signed by the 49ers. We lose him. He’s gone. He is a rookie who would have only improved in year #2 (and even more in year #3). He’s the type of player that we need moving forward (young, doesn’t make much money, has upside). Not that he would have been guaranteed to make the team next year, but he meets the requirements of what a rebuilding franchise should want in a potential player.

Hey, but at least we have a guy like 90 year-old Lawyer Milloy (I respect what he has done, but not his future in the NFL) still on the team. We even have Nate Burleson, with no hope of playing this week, still on the active roster. Nevermind the smart move would have been to put him on IR so we wouldn’t recklessly lose Walker… unless Allen cares about money… then this makes perfect sense (sarcasm). By the way, this year is over for the Seahawks and ’10 has begun. Oh wait, we’re the rejects who play for NOW (and lose 48-10) even though ’09 is clearly over at the expense of ’10-11-12.

I have nothing against Mike Hass, but signing him (who nobody was willing to pick up) and letting Walker go is silly at this point in the season. Sure, if we were fighting for the Super Bowl, or even play-offs, then I would have no problem with releasing Walker and signing Hass. Afterall, Obo couldn’t play yesterday. But this is simply stupid. Pathetic. There was only immediate gratification in this move. There was no long term thinking in this move. This move simply shows that Ruston Webster isn’t fit to be a GM. About a week ago, I gave him a free pass for working under Ruskell and not being accountable for the decisions of your boss. No more. This was a stupid move, even if Walker turns out to be a guy who gets cut next year and never appears on an NFL roster again. I am going off the deep end… but I’m only someone who wants what’s best for this organization and it pisses me off when moves like this get made with no regard for the future when our current season is basically over (and a disaster). Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. And we wonder why we’re a joke and don’t get taken seriously.

In Webster’s defense (not that I’m trying to defend him)… maybe he was intstructed to save money… which goes into the FO staying the hell out of football operations… I don’t know… but I’d like an explanation why a young guy with some talent was allowed to be risked in leaving when it could have been avoided…

Eric — could you ask this question to Mora?

Why risk losing Walker when he has guys who probably won’t play and therefore could have been placed on IR to save Walker for next year?

Harbach… sorry to nitpick, but it’s Itula Mili – he’s a big dude, I wouldn’t call him Itulu to his face… BTW, Itula was the first autograph on my Seahawks towel — now up to 56 autos… Jordan Babineaux was the last (in ’05 playoff loss to Rams).

Agree with most of you on the “state of the Hawks”
1. Mora + staff needs to be one and done – let’s start fresh here, Zorn as OC/assistant HC and hire “the Jaw” or a great DC to be our HC.
2. OL is ok, not good – but not horrible. Unger, Sims, Spencer are good decent interior O-linemen. Spencer has appeared to be better at Guard. Locklear and Willis can battle for RT, or bring in a FA and let all three compete. LT needs to be addressed early in the draft (round 1), if we need to move around to make the fit, fine do it.
3. Playmaker NEEDED – Preferably a RB (Spiller?) to share carries with Forsett, but a Harvin/D.Jackson type threat would be welcome – even Arenas would be a good addition for returns and a solid Nickel if Pistol is promoted to every down starter. If we went that route, Craig Cooper (MIA) could be our RB… Is he coming out?

TNT Staff: What’s the latest on the GM search? We got the “list” – why did Paul Allen or Tod L. pay a search firm to provide a list of the obvious candidates? Mostly all retreads…

WTF is this organization doing? Someone needs to ask Ruston Webster what his job entails at this point. Maybe the following questions…

Ruston, do you have any say in personnel moves at this point?
Who decides which player gets cut to make room for a 4th WR on the active roster? Regarding that decision, any thought there to sending Obomanu or Burleson to the IR in order to keep Derek Walker?
Who have you brought in recently for a workout?
Which players are you working with on contract extensions currently?
As a front office, are you lobbying the coaches to get some young guys PT, to see if “need” areas can be addressed by on roster talent?
Looking around the league, are there some Practice Squad guys that you might sign this week? To do that, would you consider releasing some older veteran players who do not fit into the future plans?
Depending on how he answers all those… Ruston, did you know that the Seahawks will play football again in 2010 and its now YOUR job to put together the roster?

“Why risk losing Walker when he has guys who probably won’t play and therefore could have been placed on IR to save Walker for next year?” That’s a damn good question, like Obo, Burleson or Curry. Regardless of what kind of player Walker turns into, this is poor roster management. Seattle needs all the young d linemen, with upside, they can get, moving forward.

Not sure we can really get into the “why’s” of Leiweke’s statements. However, when a leader of a business states the boundaries of hiring an executive position, it immediately impacts the criteria used to make the hire.

For instance, if I am DeCosta, why would I ever change jobs for the exact level of responsibility.
1) Title
2) Money
3) Change of Scenery

The first two are poor reasons for taking a new job, unless you are selfish and bring some undesirable personality traits. The third can be accepted, but seems unlikely a reason for any of the men to move from their current, successful positions.

nbk35zw – Well, my feeling is that unless one is self employed, every job is going to have boundaries, of one kind or another. Regarding this specific case however, Leiweke’s statements regarding Mora, I believe are being taken a bit too literally. Or maybe too much is being read into them is a better way to put it. I suppose time will tell, but I don’t think a condition of the new GM will be to retain Mora. I feel confident that what ever the new GM feels is in the best interest of putting a winning “product” on the field, he will be at liberty to do. It’s been my experience that any vote of confidence or endorsement of teams coach or staff, in context of significant front office changes, carry absolutely no weight.

I think those guys are right about Leiweke keeping Mora on. While there is no firm evidence I’m smart enough to read between the lines. If Mora is still with us at this point next week then you will know that they aren’t going to fire him and that keeping him is a condition for the new GM.

While it would have been inappropriate to for Leiweke to have said “yes we’re giong to fire coach Mora too” in the presser. It would have been totally appropriate for him to say “everything and everyone on the team is going to be evaluated at the end of the season”.

I’ve got this horrible feeling deep in my gut that they’re going to keep this coaching staff intact and make it a deal breaker for the new GM. I hope I’m wrong though, I’ve made it pretty clear how I feel about our coaches all season.

Bull – You may very well be right, in the end we’re really just speculating here. If that is indeed the case, you and I can commiserate. It’s one of the things that concerns me about the hiring process. It could be weeks before they have an opportunity to speak to DeCosta and Heckert and by then the pool of quality candidates for head coach will likely be thinner and Mora would live to see another season. I’m rooting for the Eagles and Ravens (should they make the playoffs) to lose their first games (respectively).

Will be an interesting 14 days coming up. I would expect Cleveland to have its house in order well before Seattle. Mora than likely (pun!), it will show on the record books in 2010.

If Mora’s contract is keeps him employed (5M per for 3 more years), then Lieweke is indeed involved at a GM level, and will continue to do so, as it means prior contracts influence future GM decisions.

Effort is more than just breaking a sweat. Concentration on who to block, running precise routes by the wide receivers and backs, staying inside your lanes, etc., are all part and parcell of effort. Effort may also be described as a coach putting in a system that complements the tallents of key members of the team, rather than forcing the issue with a “my system or nothing” dogma. This is a team with questionable tallent in many places that compounds their problems by losing concentration, i.e., effort, and questionable decisions made by the coaching staff.

Mora must be seeing something I’ve missed. There are a few guys putting out a real effort to win, in Hasselbeck’s case it’s too much effort leading to a lot of mistakes. I can’t help but compare a guy like Mike Hass, who dislocates his shoulder but wants to play so much that he gets it taped up and goes back onto the field, with a guy like Deion Branch who gets an owie on his ankle and misses 5 more games. We had a guy like that (Branch) here before, Joey Galloway, who would take himself out of a game if the wind blew too hard. Tim Ruskell would always talk about “character” in players, but I’d say part of character is being able to, as Woody Harrelson said in Zombieland, “nut up or shut up”. Mike Hass nutted up, Branch needs to shut up. Even Julius Jones puts out effort, I just don’t think he has the talent to be on the field ahead of Justin Forsett the way he is. What I saw after the first series on Sunday, was a bunch of guys just going through the motions of another end-of-a-miserable-season for a coaching staff they have no faith in.

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